Showdown on the Planet of the Slavers

by Helena Puumala

  “I suspect that she’ll be inundated with offers as soon as the words gets out, and she has made known her requirements,” Kati laughed. “In the meantime, Xanthus is a busy man!”

  *****

  “It’s a pity that Max is on The Spacebird,” Kati said. “He was really good in Suderie, when he and I went to check on the chattels at Yaroli’s Fine Carpets. He would put on his Old Family patrician persona when that seemed to be what was required, and looked down his nose at the peasants. I could hardly keep my giggles to myself, but the Suderians were suitably impressed.”

  She, Mikal and Nabbish were having a meeting of sorts about the need to deal with the children in the carpet factory. Or, at least, they were discussing the matter over an evening meal and glasses of wine in a restaurant near Mikki’s. Kortone, Gerr, and Morg were looking after things on what had been Gorsh’s compound. Kati had invited Jaqui to join her and Mikal, but she had decided to go for supper with her mother and Rosa. Rosa was trying to ease the relationship between the mother and the daughter, and had suggested the outing. Kati had encouraged Jaqui to go; if the girl was going to Lamania, she did not want her to leave unhappy loose ends behind, if it was at all possible to avoid such.

  “Yeah, Max can do that remarkably well,” said Nabbish with a grin. “You’d think he was the most class-conscious of the Old Family scions, rather than a true democrat. Usually he does it when he wants to impress his Old Family peers, but I bet he used it to good effect in the South. The South never had any nobility of its own, and sometimes, visiting there, you’d get the feeling that they almost envied us Nordlanders our corrupt Families.”

  He shook his head.

  “I have to admit that I never did understand it.”

  “Lots of people like to think that some others of their kind are special in some fashion that is unattainable to them,” Mikal said. “That way they can look up to these others, emulate them, and take to heart their opinions. Makes thinking for oneself unnecessary. The trouble with it, of course, is that those thus emulated start to think that they are better than their fellows, and should have the right to make all the decisions for everybody. Which, in the long term, is a recipe for disaster, as the Continent Nord well knows.”

  Nabbish grinned ruefully.

  “There is hope that we have learned at least a little from our mistakes,” he added.

  He took a sip from his wine glass, looking thoughtful.

  “We could ask Karn Gurt to come with us, to represent the nobility,” he suggested then. “He’d insist on taking his wife, Cassi, along, of course. Cassi’s not of the Old Families, but she’s a smart, caring woman. You met her, Kati; she rather sang the praises of the Captain Katerina, afterwards.”

  “In other words, she’s a good judge of people,” Mikal said with a grin.

  “I think so, Karn thinks so, and President Naez agrees,” Nabbish responded.

  “She would actually be a good person to have along,” Kati said. “She would be good with the children, I suspect. And we are talking about children; if Xoraya and Xanthus can manage without Murra for a few days, we ought to take him with us, too. After all, those boys, all of them at the carpet factory, were boys from Murra’s world—a world that is still pretty much a mystery to me.”

  “Xanthus knows quite a lot about Murra’s world, about his past, and his studies,” Mikal pointed out. “The two of them had a lot of opportunity to communicate while the Xeonsaur did the navigating for Gorsh, and Murra was his companion.”

  “I’m assuming that Gorsh had a room aboard that ship which was warded by a portion of the Cellar Creature, so that there was no chance of Murra contacting his institute while the ship was in the right time and place to pick up more boys,” Kati muttered.

  “Indeed,” Mikal agreed. “Gorsh also took the precaution of insisting that the subsequent stops on Murra’s planet actually happened, in terms of their time, before the one that nabbed Murra. That way, if the boy had been able to contact his mentors, they would not have understood what he was trying to tell them.”

  “Ah.” Kati took a sip of her wine. “I suppose that Chrush must have thought that one up.”

  “We don’t know,” Mikal sighed. “And considering how things went, we never will.”

  “It may be just speculation,” subvocalized the Granda, “that such was the case, but I’d bet a lot that it hits the mark.”

  “Not that you have anything to wager,” Kati sniffed back, subvocally.

  “So you two, myself, Murra, Jaqui, Karn Gurt, and Cassi,” Nabbish said, returning to the issue at hand. “Seven people, making something close to a flyerful. And we’ll need flyers with which to transport the children to Strone, or Salamanka, if that seems more advantageous. I’ll talk to Marna about using Government flyers with Government pilots to handle that. It’s the least we of the Continent Nord can do for these children whose labour has been exploited in a very callous fashion.”

  “I guess that we’ll have to leave the matter of whether or not any of Murra’s boys can be returned to their home planet for Xanthus and Xoraya to decide,” Kati sighed. “If they were snatched out of sequence, timewise... well, I really don’t know how that affects things, but I kind of suspect that it creates further problems.”

  “The question remains whether Xanthus can make any reverse deliveries without breaking more regulations,” Mikal added. “I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he’ll simply refuse to go there, and will merely join Xoraya in contacting the families of the snatched ones, to let them know that their lost one is now safe and sound, although forever out of reach.”

  *****

  Nabbish left Kortone, Gerr, and Morg to oversee things on what had been Gorsh’s compound, with the Wise Woman Seleni. They were also asked to keep track of what was happening in the VIP suite of the third best hotel in Salamanka. Not that much needed doing at the hotel; the staff were doing whatever there was, and it was mostly to take care the needs and wants Xanthus expressed, and to stay out of the Xeonsaur couple’s way. There was delighted gossip, of course, but enough had been happening recently, that Xoraya and Xanthus were just another item on an interesting list.

  Mikal, Kati, Murra, Jaqui, and Nabbish climbed into one of the two rented flyers, with Mikal taking over the piloting. They were to make a stop in Strone to confer with Marna Naez and to pick up the Gurts, before continuing on to the Continent Sud. Mikal expected The Spacebird Two to return to the Strone Space Port, hauling Xanthus’s stolen ship with it, while the operation to free the children at Yaroli’s Fine Carpets was going on, and he wanted to ensure that the Continent Nord authorities understood what had been happening. Besides, a Federation ship was coming to deal with the ex-slaves, and to do an examination of the ship Gorsh had used for his snatches; it, according to Morg, was not, as Kati had assumed, in the giant hangar, but in orbit above Wayward, and manned by a skeleton crew. The cat-men, she had been glad to hear from Morg, had been left on their home planet with the little ship which had been their payment for services rendered.

  “Wonder how Gorsh got that ship?” she had muttered on hearing how the felines had been paid. “The same way that he got Xanthus’s ship, maybe?”

  No-one other than The Monk had answered the query, and her inner rascal had merely harrumphed: “What do you think?”

  Things were slowly—or maybe speedily, considering how long it had taken Kati and Mikal to get this far—falling into place. With some surprise, Kati realized that she was close to redeeming the promise that she had made on the slave ship, what now seemed like long ago. It was a matter of getting the children out of the carpet factory, and, of allowing the new members of Maryse’s Corps to trace, and haul to Lamania, the rest of the folk on Gorsh’s HBusiness list. The thought was as disturbing as it was satisfying, she found; for so long obtaining justice for the snatched slaves had defined everything that she had done, and now she was at the point—almost—at which the obsession would have run its course. What would come after it, in her
life?

  These thoughts ran through her mind as she climbed into the flyer, taking a seat in the back, next to Jaqui, leaving the seat next to the pilot for Nabbish. Murra climbed in to sit on her other side, and Mikal turned to give her the old “everything’s okay” sign of the Peace Officer Corps, before taking the flyer up into the air. He was smiling in spite of the misgivings which she realized that he was entertaining about the way Chrysalia and Lank had conducted their part of the final showdown. She could have probed his thoughts and emotions, but declined to do so. It behooved a telepath to conduct herself with consideration for others’ privacy; Murra had taught her that a long time ago, and it was a very good lesson to take to heart.

  Besides, Mikal would tell her what was on his mind when he was ready to do so. They had a good relationship, and his problems with the Federation judicial bureaucracy would not change that. Perhaps she did know what would come next, in her life.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  Nabbish and Karn directed Mikal to a different, more imposing, hotel than the one that Max and Kati had stayed at. It had its own flyer garage located beneath the building, in a curious parallel to the underground car parks that Kati had known on her own world. Mikal even had to wheel the vehicle down into it, after landing on a paved expanse outside, much like the Team had had to do on Vultaire. Obviously there were a lot of the older flying vehicles which could not be taken into the air directly from hangars, still in use across the galaxy. It made sense, of course: why replace machines that were perfectly adequate for a job, with new models, just because the new models were available? Lamanians would have approved, Kati guessed, even though, at least in The Second City, they, themselves, had embraced the newer flyers and the flits.

  Nabbish had used the flyer’s com to reserve rooms for the group, citing the authority of the Government of the Continent Nord, so the arrival of their vehicle was welcomed by a staff member who gave them a parking permit, and then led them upstairs where a clerk assigned them their quarters. Nabbish had asked for a suite for the seven of them, and had been given a large one which had a half-dozen bedrooms, and could have slept another dozen people on pallets in the living room.

  “We can keep the children in here for a while, if necessary,” he explained his reasoning. “Since Marna’s not sending the pick-up flyers until we’ve secured the ex-slaves, we need enough room for them. I didn’t explain why I wanted their largest suite to the Hotel staff, when we’re travelling in only one flyer, but this place is used to accommodating requests which, at first glance may seem absurd. I don’t doubt but that they figure that we’ll be bringing in more people later, and are just hoping that we’re not planning a huge, noisy party which could annoy the whole floor. If we wreck the place they trust that our Government will pay for the damage; that’s the advantage of catering to officials of all description.”

  “The kids won’t wreck anything,” Kati protested. “Those boys, on the slave ship, were the best-behaved children I have ever seen. They made the imps from my world look like little hellions, as I recall. My friend Roxanna suggested that that was why the slavers kept going back to their world to pick up boys—to get some easy-to-manage chattels for their customers.”

  “Roxanna’s a sharp one,” Mikal said. “Tiny, pretty, young woman. Easy to underestimate. I bet Maryse is chortling with delight to have snagged her for the Corps.”

  “She’s got a sharp tongue, too,” Kati added with a slightly rueful laugh. She had not forgotten the quip about “a glory-hog”. “Although, it seemed to me, on Vultaire, that associating with your cousin, Rakil, Mikal, was blunting that sharpness a little bit, at least at times.”

  “Rakil’s one of the good ones,” Mikal agreed. “He will make a good operative, too, though in a different way from Roxanna. I’m glad he decided to leave Borhq, and join Maryse’s team. Much as I’m grateful for my own connection to Borhq, I recognize that things can get a little insular in that matriarchy, peaceful as it is.”

  “But, how are we going to approach our present task?” Kati asked, mainly of Mikal and Nabbish. “Do the two of you, and Karn and Cassi have some notions as to how we should be dealing with the Suderie authorities? Are they going to set themselves against us, to protect one of their manufacturers?”

  “I would imagine that there are factions among the manufacturers,” Mikal stated. “Divisions that perhaps we can use to our advantage.”

  “Oh, come to think of it, Max and I found one of those,” Kati said.

  She had forgotten about the fellow who ran a rug-making operation across the road from the School for Delinquent Children, and apparently was not pleased with the work force that Yaroli’s Fine Carpets had brought into town. The Granda came up with the manufacturing outfit’s name for her; it was Farox.

  “I don’t know whether or not we were talking to Farox himself, but the guy in the office was seriously annoyed about the competition. In his opinion what Yaroli’s folks were doing should not be allowed to happen.”

  “Although, perhaps what he himself is doing, is questionable, too,” Cassi pointed out.

  “Yeah, that thought did occur to both Max and me when we realized how strategic the carpet-maker’s location was. He claimed, when we talked to him, to be providing an opportunity for honest, paid labour for the boarding students of the school; we didn’t look into the claim, obviously. He directed us to Yaroli’s, and we went there to do our investigating.”

  “So, how do we start this business?” Karn asked. “Do we approach the local authorities?”

  “It’s probably the better part of wisdom to do that,” Mikal replied. “It’s never a good idea to go behind the backs of legitimate authorities, unless you know that they’re knee-deep in whatever corruption is taking place. And we don’t know that the managers at Yaroli’s have done anything that’s deemed illegal, other than accepted the rental of a cadre of what they assumed to be sub-contracted workers from a Nordlander who appeared to have been operating without any interference in his business.”

  “It might be best if you and I, Karn, approached the Civic authorities,” Nabbish suggested. “We’ll tell them that Gorsh’s operation was discovered to be way beyond the bounds of legality, and a stop was put to it. That we found out about a group of child slaves that he had rented out to a carpet-making facility in Suderie, and that we have come to take those children back in order to free them, and to ascertain whether or not they can be sent back to their homes.”

  “Meanwhile the rest of us can see if we can’t tie a noose around Yaroli’s hand-knotting operations,” Mikal suggested. “Right now, this Tarig who dealt with Kati and Max, and no doubt betrayed Kati to Gorsh, is probably keeping an eagle eye out for trouble, assuming that he has heard about Gorsh’s comeuppance.”

  “It was Yaroli who talked to Gorsh, and told him that a Captain Katerina had been snooping around his establishment,” piped up Jaqui. “I had the opportunity to snoop around his computer, and he had a record of his communications console feeds in there, so I know that, even though I didn’t actually hear the conversation.”

  Mikal consulted his node, and its record of Gorsh’s computer contents.

  “Hey, that’s right Jaqui. Thanks for pointing it out. So Yaroli is completely implicated in this, no matter what he may try to claim. Keep that in mind when you talk to the Authorities, Nabbish and Karn.”

  “There’s probably a contract in the HBusiness File, which I couldn’t access, Mikal,” Jaqui added. “Gorsh was pretty methodical in his record-keeping.”

  Mikal repeated the momentary lapse of external attention which indicated node-consultation. This one took a little longer than the first quick look, and at the end of it he asked Kati if she had any paper with her. Fortunately, the nice pad and the pen she had had on her last trip to Suderie had been at Max’s house when she had picked up spare clothes for this trip, during the stop in Strone. Sammas, the Head Housekeeper, had handed them to her, when she had quickly explained to him what was goin
g on, where Max was, and when he would be arriving home. Now she handed both to Mikal, who proceeded to write a few notes, detailing the contract, in the Waywardian script, and handed the notes to Nabbish.

  “This ought to be useful in your and Karn’s talks with the Authorities,” he said. “Jaqui is right about Gorsh’s record-keeping. We have the number of the chattels he provided, the length of time he was prepared to let Yaroli keep them, and the rent he expected to receive, including the advance that Yaroli paid. It’s pretty conclusive, I’d say.”

  Karn leaned over to read the notes.

  “Looks like stuff that’s pretty hard to dispute,” he commented.

  “Unless there were bribes paid, whether by Gorsh or by Yaroli,” Mikal sighed. “When people have been paid to turn a blind eye on something, they can be pretty blind, and remain that way in face of a lot of opposition.”

  “Of course.” Karn’s laugh was rueful. “I should know, having grown up a member of an Old Family.”

  Cassi patted his hand.

  “Next up,” she said. “How do we draw this noose around Yaroli’s, Mikal? Have you any ideas?”

  “I think that we’ll avoid the direct approach until we know for certain whether the local authorities are on our side or not,” he replied thoughtfully. “In the meantime, I guess the rest of us can test the waters; see what the folks who have dealings with them feel about what they are doing, for one thing.”

  “You’re talking about getting the locals involved, once again, right?” Kati asked. “Like maybe the fellow in charge of Farox’s.”

  “Also the Council of Manufacturers. And the staff at Yaroli’s. You mentioned two young female office workers, there. I should imagine that they have been told to keep their mouths shut about the boys, but I bet I could worm a lot of information out of them, if I flattered them a bit.”